Sun, Sand, and Swords
by Ryshe
Summary: Nothing is ever simple when it comes to Team RWBY, not even a trip to the beach... [RWBY Summer Contest 2015 Entry]


**A/N: So, here's a random piece of fluff I put together for the DeviantArt RWBY group's summer contest. I suppose this is the literary equivalent of a beach episode or something. Some Bumblebee because eh, I was in a bumblebee mood.**

* * *

It was what most would consider to be a perfect day. The sun hung high in the sky without a single cloud in sight to block its rays, casting down a blistering heat that seemed to only be enhanced by the faint breeze that did little more than gently shake the trees. Predictably, the beach that Ruby had all but dragged the team down to in order to celebrate the end of their first year was filled to the brim with people, creating an almost party-like atmosphere as the Beacon students set about the place.

Sun, sea, and sand; many people's idea of a perfect summer day. Blake hated it.

Though, she did have to admit that her opinion was rather biased at the moment, as she sat in the shelter of the shaded beach bar and nursed the bright red sunburns covering most of her body. She hadn't been expecting just how warm southern Vale actually got, and it had barely taken ten minutes from arriving at the beach before her feline side had took over and she found herself curled up on a sunlouger, lulled to sleep by the warmth sinking into her skin.

She didn't realise the mistake that she had made until she woke up several hours later, and by then the damage had already been done. It hadn't helped that she was wearing the bikini that Yang had cajoled her into buying, leaving precious little of her skin shielded from the punishing rays. Speaking of Yang…

A faint snicker from behind her made her ears twitch a fraction of a second before cold fingers came to rest lightly on her burnt shoulder, quickly withdrawing when Blake span around to glare at her.

"Looks like ya got a little something on your… everything, Blake," Yang teased, her voice full of mirth. The curvy blonde pulled off the summer look perfectly, clad in a yellow sarong and bikini top with a wide, floppy sunhat crowning her wild hair and her customary aviators shielding her eyes. Eyes had been following her ever since she stepped onto the beach and Yang, ever confident, both revelled in the attention and brushed off anyone who tried to make it anything more with ruthless efficiency.

Blake just huffed and glared at her grinning partner, "You could have warned me, or woken me up," she grumbled.

"Awww, but you looked so happy and peaceful!" Yang protested, leaning against the bar next to her, "I couldn't bring myself to disturb your catnap."

There was a moment of incredulous silence before Blake sighed, snapping her book shut, "How come it's just me? I'm hardly the only pale one on our team."

"Well, I'm pretty much fireproof," Yang said, "I don't think the princess has stepped out from under her umbrella since she set it up, and I slathered Ruby in so much suncream that JNPR are using her for a game of greased pig."

Blake gave Yang a confused frown, "That's a weird metapho-"

She was interrupted by a joyous squeal as Ruby - wearing a bright crimson one-piece and currently glistening in the sunlight - shot past with Nora and Jaune close on the slippery huntress's heels, while a laughing Pyrrha watched from off in the distance. A panting Ren made up the rear of the chase, pausing to share a long-suffering look with Blake before taking off again after his teammates.

"Not a metaphor," Yang said into the shocked silence, throwing her head back and laughing long and deep at Blake's stunned expression.

"Remind me why I hang around you guys again?" Blake asked with a pained sigh.

"You wouldn't know what to do without us," Yang stated confidently, sidling closer to Blake and leaning down to her level. "So, ya gonna come out and spend some time with us, or skulk under here all day?"

"Skulking sounds good right about now," Blake glanced over her shoulder as Yang before stretching her arms and groaning, "It feels like my burns have burns."

"You sure?" Blake started as Yang's hands once again found their way to her shoulders, this time coming to rest with a soft but firm grip near the crook of her neck. Yang's voice deepened, taking on a sultry tone, "If you come out, I can help you put some cream on." The blonde craned her head around Blake's shoulder, going as far as to lower her sunglasses so that Blake could see her eyebrows waggling.

Despite the all encompassing heat all around them, Blake distinctly felt a fresh source of heat well up in her cheeks as she flushed; taking in first Yang's startlingly close proximity and second the new… view she had from this angle if she lowered her eyes a bit… "Ah, I…"

Whatever Blake was about to say was lost to the void as a loud, panicked shriek cut through the air. Yang withdrew from Blake with a scowl. "What the hell is…?" she grumbled, moving over towards the beach. Here eyes widened beneath her glasses as she got a good look at where the shriek had come from, Blake's eyes doing the same when she joined her. "Oh, you have gotta be kidding me."

Apparently, Weiss _had_ decided to venture out from under the protective shelter of her umbrella at some point, going down to the water for a swim. They knew this because the heiress was shrieking her lungs out from her elevated position above the water, currently held firm by a long black tentacle wrapped around her body. Several more tentacles were probing at the shore, sending screaming civilians scattering in their wake, while a large head crested with a spiked plate of white bone was just visible in the centre of it all, glaring at the shore with a single red eye.

Blake's mind was already at work analysing the sight before her, comparing it to pictures and videos from their classes. Kraken, Kraken Minor judging by the amount of crests on its helmet. Not the most dangerous of Grimm but it was large, fairly scary, and hard to deal with if it got a good grip on you, as it had Weiss now. Still, nothing too taxing considering the amount of huntsmen in the area. Already she could see Ruby dancing angrily by the shoreline and waving a folded up umbrella at the beast, while JNPR were running off towards the airdock they had landed at, presumably to retrieve weapons.

Yang's head slowly swivelled from the scene to Blake, then Blake's book, and then back again, a disturbingly gleeful look on her face. Blake realised what she was about to do and leapt for her a second too late, failing to catch the girl before she began running down the beach.

"Don't worry Weiss, it's not going to hurt you!" Yang cackled as she ran forwards, "This is just like in Blake's comics! Just lay back and open yo-"

Yang was cut off when Blake's fist impacted firmly with the back of her skull, several ghostly copies of the girl evaporating behind her where Blake had used her semblance to rush down the beach. "That's not funny!" she hissed at the pouting Yang.

"Will you two dunces stop bickering and _help me!?_ " Weiss shrieked

"Aww cmon, it wasn't _that_ bad," Yang protested, ignoring the shrieking Weiss.

"It really was Yang. That was Weiss-joke levels of bad."

The whole beach seemed to go quiet as a look of actual hurt shot across Yang's face. Even Ruby paused in her valiant defence of Weiss to look back at them with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. Yang looked away from Blake, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye, "That hurts Blake, that hurts real deep," she mumbled, head drooping.

Blake winced, and awkwardly began patting Yang's back, "There there, it wasn't quite _that_ bad. It was really bad though."

"Are you two seriously stood there insulting me while this thing is waving me around?" Weiss shrieked.

"Don't worry Weiss, I'm coming!" Ruby cried, brandishing her umbrella and turning her attention back to the Kraken. The redhead rushed forwards with a battle cry, and the Kraken's tentacles rushed to meet her.

There was a solid _thwack_ and Yang and Blake watched as Ruby was sent rocketing back up the beach, leaving a trench in the soft sand behind her. "Well, that kinda worked?" Yang remarked, head cocked to the side. The Kraken was still waving its tentacles around, but now there was an umbrella impaled in one of them. "You alright Rubes?"

"I don't think so," Blake shook her head as Ruby groaned something affirmative and began dusting herself off, "It just looks angrier now."

Indeed, Weiss was shrieking louder and louder as the tentacles, including the one holding her, began to flail about angrily. "You think we should do something?"

"Hmm, I doubt it'll manage to get through her aura, but if it pulls her under the water that would be bad, so probably."

"Alright then," Yang bounced on the spot to psyche herself up and grinned at Blake, "Bumblebee V3?"

"No, not enough land. We should go with…" she winced, mouth scrunching up as though she had just sucked a lemon. Leaving Ruby and Yang to think up names for most of their combination moves really hadn't been a good idea, "I'm not saying it, you know which one."

Yang's grin grew wider and wider, "Say it."

"No."

"Say iiitttttttt."

"No!"

"I will let Weiss drown, I swear to Monty!"

"Just say the dust-damned name Blake, before I throw up!" Weiss shrieked.

"Ugh, fine. We should use _Longcat._ " Blake spat out, "You happy?"

"Very," Yang grinned, hands tightening into fists as she dropped into a fighting stance.

On an unspoken cue, the two suddenly began running full speed down the beach towards the Kraken. Half a dozen tentacles waved their way threateningly, but Blake took the lead and began to flit back and forth with her semblance, leaving a crowd of shadows that distracted the tentacles and let the two real huntresses slip through.

The Grimm soon saw through her distraction, and one more tentacle reared up and shot straight towards the real Blake. Before it could hit though, Yang was there. Her hair seemed to flash with fames as she threw her fist forwards and hit the tentacle, stopping it in its tracks.

Blake nimbly jumped over Yang's head and began running up the tentacle, suppressing a shudder as her bare feet touched the slimy surface. The kraken bucked and writhed to try and dislodge her but Blake held tight, clinging to the umbrella that Ruby had shoved straight through the appendage. The tentacle waved wildly back and forth through the air, and Blake almost felt like she was being shaken about inside a Blender, only just managing to keep her grip on the umbrella.

Eventually the tentacle stopped waving around quite so wildly as the kraken turned its attention back to Yang and Ruby, who had begun throwing more umbrellas towards it like javelins.

While the beast was distracted, Blake made her move. With a quick kick she snapped off the handle of the umbrella, bringing the sharpened end along with her as she ran nimbly along the tentacles. A couple more hops took her to within reach of her target, and she took one last semblance enhanced leap out towards the tentacle holding Weiss.

The kraken's flesh had a nauseating texture somewhat like lumpy jelly as Blake jammed the end of her improvised spear into it, coming to rest not far from where the heiress was entangled. "About time!" Weiss snapped, losing most of her actual fear now that rescue was at hand.

Blake gave her a look, but didn't respond. Instead she drew her hand back and began focusing, a faint black glow beginning to flit into existence around her hand. With a quick cry, Blake thrust her aura strike down into the limb. There was surprisingly little resistance, and as Blake's aura flowed out the limb abruptly exploded in a shower of foul-smelling black goo, the Kraken letting out a loud, trumpet-like roar of pain.

Weiss caught herself with a glyph and nimbly jumped back towards the shore, but Blake was left to fall straight down, now reminded of the other reason why she hated the beach; water.

She hit the surface hard and her momentum quickly took her below the surface, staring numbly at the underside of the Grimm that was now flailing at someone on the shoreline. And there she stayed.

Much as the stereotypical cat remarks she received about the matter annoyed her endlessly, Blake absolutely positively _hated_ water. Outside of controlled situations like showers, she avoided the stuff wherever she could and as a result, had never learnt how to swim. Even if she had known how, the hard fall had driven the air from her lungs and left her stunned. All that she could do was slowly drift down.

The sun glimmered prettily on the surface from this perspective, shining down through the bubbles that rose as what little air she had left slipped through her lips. It was an entrancing sight. Just when the odd sense of calm was beginning to fade and panic set in, a body hit the water. Blonde hair fanned out behind her as Yang swam down with powerful strokes, wrapping her arms firmly around Blake. For a moment they floated there, looking at each other, until Yang gave her a wink and began dragging her back up to the surface.

They surfaced to the beautiful sound of gunfire. JNPR had returned bearing weapons, and begun tearing into the kraken with a vengeance. While intimidating in appearance, the kraken was built for ambushing ships and underwater battles with other creatures of the deep. Its soft, mostly unshielded body provided no protection from the hail of gunfire and explosives pouring into it from the shore. Ruby and Jaune made up the forefront of the fight, flashing blades carving off any sections of tentacle that ventured towards the assembled huntsmen.

Blake began to hack and cough as soon as she reached air, spitting out the salty water that had invaded her mouth. Despite the jerky motions, Yang held her secure, treading water strongly enough for the both of them.

"You alright?" Yang asked, hugging Blake tightly around the waist and beginning to tow her back towards the shore. "Still breathing, don't need any mouth to mouth?

"No, I'm fine," Blake coughed, spitting out the last of the seawater.

"Pity." Yang gave her a wide grin, and after a moment Blake managed to return it weakly.

The two slowly began to drift back towards shore, watching quietly as a madly laughing Nora filled the sky around the kraken full of explosions. Blake and Yang watched tensely as Ruby dashed towards the staggering Grimm, launching herself into the air with Crescent Rose.

The kraken recovered quickly, and just when it seemed like it was about to swat Ruby out of the air, a glyph intercepted her fight and flung her skyward. JNPR resumed their gunfire to distract the beast while a second glyph caught Ruby at the apex of her flight and, after a moment of stillness, launched her down faster than the eye could see. For a moment Ruby seemed to disappear, reappearing a second later from out of thin air with Crescent Rose stuck straight through the kraken's head-plate.

The beast was still for a moment, tentacles frozen in the air like a statue, and then it let out a final groan and collapsed into the shallows.

As the Grimm began to disintegrate and a cheer rose up from the students on the beach, Blake finally let herself relax and flop back against Yang's chest. "Is it actually possible for us to go somewhere and have a _normal_ day out?" she murmured quietly.

"We've not managed it so far," Yang laughed, squeezing her gently as they made it to water shallow enough to stand once more.

Reluctantly, Blake peeled herself away from Yang and waded back onto dry land, clearing as much water as she could from her body with a violent shake. The faunus ignored Yang's smirk and peered up the beach to where the others seemed to be hosting an impromptu party around the kraken's corpse. "Shall we go and see if the others are alright?"

Yang moved up alongside her, raising a hand to shield her eyes as she sought out the figures of Ruby and Weiss. "Nah," the blonde eventually said, "They're fine." Unexpectedly, Yang threw her arm around Blake's waist and pulled her close, "So, like I was saying, about that suncream?"

After a moment's pause, Blake slid her own arm around Yang's waist and leaned into her. The two began to walk away from the raucous celebration of their teammates towards a less populated area of the beach, Blake purring into Yang's side, "Do tell me more."

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 **So, there we go. Like it, want me to do more oneshot stuff in-between BTW chapters? Hate it, want me to focus on BTW? (Disclaimer, I'm probably gonna be doing more oneshot/fluffy stuff anyway, it's a fun way to get the brain working when the BTW juices aren't flowing.)**


End file.
